Public accounting as an entry level job, was a crash course in accounting that made me much more technically proficient than my counterparts post-Big 4; Deloitte, lived up to that promise of providing learning career & industry learning through assignments and firm resources. Reputation wise, Deloitte seemed to be more technical and performance focused than the other Big 4's (which could be a pro or a con).

Cons

The hours; which they don't lie to you about up-front. I unfortunately ended up getting a string of unlucky breaks and my main client ended up going through a series re-statements which resulted in an almost a year-long busy season. Although this is not the norm, traditional Big 4 busy seasons do seem to have creeped in duration

Advice to Management

Monitor the fatigue of your teams. Although there are deadlines, a rested employee is a more productive employee.